Damon forsaken. A Pastoral.

Edinburgh Magazine or Literary Amusement 56 (30 May 1782) 242.

A. K.

A pastoral ballad in five double-quatrain stanzas, signed "A. K." Phillida has proven unkind, leaving Damon to mourn amid the blossoms of springtime: "Ye shepherds! that hear how I sigh, | Take warning, and trust not the fair, | They'll leave you to languish and die, | When once you are caught in the snare."

Now all-chearing May is arriv'd,
And daisies adorn ev'ry vale;
The heart of the warbler's reviv'd,
And lambkins frisk over each dale.
But all the gay scenes of the year
Nor comfort nor pleasure can give,
Since she, who than life was more dear,
Has left me in sorrow to live.

What frenzy has come in her mind,
To leave me to wander alone?
No solace, alas! can I find;
Oh, where is my PHILLIDA gone!
My sheep may now carelessly stray,
And seek their poor shepherd in vain,
For since the lov'd maid is away,
I never will tend them again.

How joyfully pass'd the lone day!
When DAMON thought PHILLIDA kind;
No swain was so chearful and gay;
—My heart was as light as the wind.
But now I do pensively rove,
For chang'd are the days I have seen;
The birds now seem dumb in the grove,
And the forests no longer are green.

By the side of yon sweet running rill,
With PHILLIDA often I've stray'd;
And oft on yon neighb'ring green hill,
On my pipe to her sweetly have play'd.
But with grief my poor heart is now sore,
Like an owl in the desart I mourn;
For, alas! all these pleasures are o'er,
And, I doubt, never more will return.

Ye shepherds! that hear how I sigh,
Take warning, and trust not the fair,
They'll leave you to languish and die,
When once you are caught in the snare:
Ye hills and ye vallies, adieu!
Where often I've tended my sheep;
Since PHILLIDA'S false and untrue,
Poor DAMON for ever shall weep.